Neiva receives endodontics educator award

Kathleen Neiva, D.D.S., Ph.D., recently received the Endodontic Educator Fellowship Award, one of the most prestigious awards for educators from the Foundation of the American Association of Endodontists.

“She is an outstanding educator and truly deserves this honor. We are very fortunate to have her on faculty in our department,” said Roberta Pileggi, D.D.S., M.S., chair and program director of the Department of Endodontics, associate dean for Advanced Graduate Education and director of the School for Advanced Dental Sciences.

Neiva, an assistant professor in the University of Florida Department of Endodontics, joined the college in July 2010. She earned her D.D.S. in 1997 from Vale do Itajai University School of Dentistry in Itajai, Brazil, and her Ph.D. in oral health sciences from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in Ann Arbor. Neiva spent four years working in general dentistry in Brazil before moving to Michigan where she was an adjunct clinical lecturer in the Department of Cariology, Restorative Sciences and Endodontics until 2009, teaching DMD students in a clinical and classroom setting.

The award in recognition of the critical role that educators play in strengthening the specialty. The award provides funding to individuals who agree to commit a minimum of five years to a full-time academic career in endodontics at a dental school that is accredited by or has a reciprocal agreement with the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association.